I'm hoping NU has a good season, but there's 3 (almost) certain losses in the 12 games.
To go 7-2 in the other 9 would be phenomenal. Thats 7-5.
My only nagging doubt for me is that the player dynamic last year may have driven the team's success.
The players were united against those who disparaged them (Schill, Gragg, other idiots).
There's a possibility that the fire is diminished now that it is no longer "Cats Against The World."
And Braun didn't have the pressure that he'll face now - he essentially got a free pass last year.
So we'll see how it plays out. I think Braun is up to the job and could turn out to be exceptional... but its also possible that last season was something of a fluke.
Yeah it's really hard to measure motivation. The '23 team had more to prove than basically any other team we've had since the Rose Bowl season.
I have no idea how you flip a switch like that again; Braun did a masterful job keeping the team focused throughout the season but obviously the players were motivated to prove everybody wrong about them. All the (very loud) noise pre-season was about how the team was going to fall apart and lose every game, and you no longer have that kind of situation. Still, there's plenty of doubters about Northwestern football every year so it's not like motivation can't be reforged.
The good thing about guys like Braun and Lujan is that I think they'll be hungry to prove themselves at this level for quite a long time (which is why I liked Fitz's strategy of going for young hungry guys from a lower level in the past 2 years of hires).
Also we've seen that having a QB with great leadership qualities (and quality of play helps naturally) has been a difference maker and it was with Bryant (like Ramsey and Thorson and many before him).
I have no clue whether Lausch or Wright have those types of intangibles. But at the same time, I'm optimistic that Lujan will be an upgrade over Bajakian so it may not matter as long as Lujan can make the offense work.
